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BUICK OPEN

July 30, 2009

Tom Byrum

GRAND BLANC, MICHIGAN

Q. You gotta be happy with the way you played.
TOM BYRUM: I am. Played well. Played good. Played well. Good things happen.

Q. When you start off on the back, you gave one back right away there. What were you thinking at the beginning because those are the holes you gotta score low on and then you bounced back.
TOM BYRUM: Yeah. That hole isn't necessarily a birdie hole, good par-3. Second hole of the day, about 7:20, time to wake up, I guess. That was kind of a wake up call I guess after -- I just fell asleep on the shell off the tee and pulled it into the bunker and just didn't get it up-and-down.

Q. What turned it around for you there on your second nine?
TOM BYRUM: Well, actually I had it going on the front nine. I had three-putted from a couple feet on No. 18 to go -- I would have gone 3-under on that side, but I made bogey there to go back to 1. I just stayed patient, and I just hit that putt kind of hard, and rolled pretty far past.
But I just needed to start hitting a little better, and then continue making good strokes, and I turned right around and birdied the next hole, so I righted the ship right away.

Q. Can you talk about what this tournament means for you, especially you have the local ties?
TOM BYRUM: Yeah. I met my wife here 25 years ago, and it's just a great tournament. I made some good friends here.
We've got relatives in the area and it's just been -- it's my favorite tournament of the year every year and I'm just so glad I could be here this year and hopefully it's not the last one, but if it is, I'm glad I'm playing here.

Q. What were you thinking when you heard it may be the last?
TOM BYRUM: It's sad. Sad deal. I mean I love the course. It's always in perfect shape, and it's just a fun course. You know, it's not the hardest golf course in the world, but you have to make some putts, and it's just a fun place to play, I think. It's just, you know, I enjoy it, too, because family, and keeps me pretty loose and that's always fun.

Q. What went into your decision to come out here and have to qualify?
TOM BYRUM: All of that that I just mentioned, you know. I knew I've played really well on this course and it was possibly the last one here, and I wanted to try to be a part of it.
And I had a chance of getting in as an alternate anyway. I knew I was going to come up here and wait around, but it was nice to kind of get it done early.

Q. Does it help that even if you didn't make it, you have family around that you can spend the weekend with?
TOM BYRUM: Yeah. My wife was still planning oncoming up and we were going to hang around for the week. So you know, either way it was going to be a good week.

Q. How did you meet her here?
TOM BYRUM: I just kind of saw her come out here to -- she was coming out to sit down there by the putting green at the 18th, and just decided to stir up some courage and go over and talk to her.

Q. She was like a fan or was she working?
TOM BYRUM: No. She just came out to meet some friends. She wasn't even on the golf course all day. She just got done working and came over.

Q. How did you shoot that day? Did you shoot all right?
TOM BYRUM: I don't remember. That was a Wednesday. I think I played pretty good in the tournament. I played really well the first two days, so I don't remember where I finished.

Q. Do you remember what year that was?
TOM BYRUM: 1984. Or '86. Sorry.

Q. That was your first one here?
TOM BYRUM: Uh-huh.

Q. How have you seen this tournament evolve?
TOM BYRUM: Well, you know, with Tiger, it's really created a lot of stir when he plays here, and you know, it's always been there. It's always been the same great sponsor ship. It's always been good support from the local community, and media and it's just always been a big thing for this community, and it's kind of stayed pretty same as far as that goes.
I mean that Wednesday Pro-Am's a big deal around here for everybody and it's always been like that. If anything, that's even kind of lessened a little bit because it was strange that the first few years that I've come here, that was a big party day. So that's all stayed the same, but with Tiger it's become more of -- I think when he's here, it gives a better feel.

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